THE DEFENSE

Q: Welcome to Defend Your Ride Detroit. Tell us about your car. Did you buy it new? What’s the mileage?

A: Yes, I did. We bought it new from a dealer in Illinois called Bob Riding. There’s 65,000 now, but it had a few thousand when I bought it. It was previously a program car.

Q: It seems roomy inside. Do you usually find yourself with a lot of cargo?

A: I do a lot of shopping. One of the things I like about this car is that even though it looks really small, you can fit a lot in here. For example, I was at Ikea the other day and someone was heckling me saying, “You’re never going to fit that in there.” It went right in! That is one of the great things about this car.

Q: Your commute, what’s that like?

A: I work in Livonia, so it’s about 25 minutes one way to get to work, if there’s no traffic! If there is, it can be anywhere up to an hour. I think it’s a good commute if there’s no accidents on I-696. It’s much better than people that have to go from the west side to the east side. That’s what I’d call a rough commute!

Q: What’s the farthest you’ve driven with this car?

A: The car has made it to Florida and black. The kids have taken it to Alabama before. We have family in Illinois that we go see, so we drive across Indiana which isn’t crazy at all. On the way back from Florida, we went up through the east coast and through all those states. When I lived in St. Louis, we’d go from St. Louis to Illinois all the time and then from Michigan to St. Louis.

Q: Do you think people drive differently in Michigan than they do in other states?

A: Yes. Michigan people drive really fast, but they know what they’re doing. People in St. Louis drive fast, but it’s different there. Like a little snow or something and people don’t handle it well. Up here people know what they’re in for a little better. It’s still easier driving here than back there.

Q: Finally, what do you think your next car will realistically be?

A: I’d probably get an Audi SUV. I don’t want to go back to a car. I like being up higher when I’m driving!

Photos and interview by John Cruz

View previous Defend Your Ride features as well as other great stories for people who love cars at CBSDetroit.com/Autos.